Monthly Archives: March 2012

hip-hop

Announcing: Open Mike Eagle, Has-Lo, MegaRan, April 27 at Hidden House

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I’m far from a professional show promoter – and the Valley is in very capable hands anyway – but a perk of writing this blog (inching ever closer to its seven-year anniversary in July) is getting to know some of the artists I admire – and, once a year or so, putting together a night with them to showcase what I haven’t sufficiently described with words.

It happened last February, and we’re returning once again to Hidden House on April 27 for this year’s venture with Open Mike Eagle (Swim Team/LA), Has-Lo (Wrecking Crew/Philly) and MegaRan (Writer’s Guild/PHX).

I’ll hopefully have more with each of these guys as the show gets nearer, but here’s a quick primer:

Open Mike Eagle: Project Blowed alum and former teacher who is thoughtful and self-aware, friendly and accessible, a lover of They Might Be Giants and a hater of LeBron. Follow him on Twitter.

Has-Lo: Born and bred in Philadelphia, Has is making his maiden voyage out west for shows in California and Phoenix. His full-length debut, In Case I Don’t Make It (released last year on Mello Music Group), was met with well-deserved critical praise. Follow him on Twitter.

MegaRan: You’d be hard-pressed to find a musician who works harder than Random (also a former teacher). If he’s not on the road, Ran is either dropping something new or in the studio preparing to drop something new, whether solo or with his Writer’s Guild crew. He’s a former Philadelphian who lives in Phoenix, and we’re glad to call him one of our own. Follow him on Twitter.

Some treats:

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Retribution Gospel Choir: The Revolution EP

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I somehow totally missed this: Retribution Gospel Choir, the rockier side project of Low’s Alan Sparhawk, released a new EP as a free download last month. On Tuesday, Sub Pop birthed a physical release of The Revoltuion EP in 7-inch format – the first new music from the band since the 2010 album 2.

Cough up your email address below to get the four-song, 10-minute EP for free.

 

 

The band also released a video for “The Stone (Revolution!),” all full of hand claps and marching-band bass drums.

RELATED:
Retribution Gospel Choir: Workin’ Hard (video)
Retribution Gospel Choir: Hide It Away

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New Japandroids: The House That Heaven Built

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In September, Japandroids played a show with Bass Drum of Death at Trunk Space in a set that appeared to be riddled with technical issues that left the Vancouver duo a tad frustrated. They powered through but promised free entry to their next Phoenix show for anyone who held on to the ticket stub. I was hoping I’d get to cash in when I saw the band had announced a new tour on Monday, but alas, no Arizona dates were included on this leg (though they seem like the sort of guys to make good on this promise).

But all’s not lost: Brian King and Dave Prowse also dropped a new song that will be on the forthcoming album Celebration Rock, due out June 5 on Polyvinyl (pre-order here). “The House That Heaven Built” will be released as the A-side on the fourth installment of the band’s 7-inch series it started two years ago. (This B-side will feature a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds cover of “Jack The Ripper.”)

With “The House That Heaven Built,” Japandroids really make no bones about reaching for a bigger dynamic – the sort of uninhibited, call-and-response anthem that bands like the Hold Steady perfected. “On a lot of this new record, we actually tried to simulate the sound of what we thought the crowd would do during the songs,” King told Pitchfork.

Stream the track via Soundcloud below:

I also love Japandroids’ commitment to their minimal, punk aesthetic. Celebration Rock sticks to the eight-track length of Post-Nothing and keeps its predecessor’s stripped-down album-cover design.

Here’s the Celebration Rock tracklisting:

1. The Nights Of Wine And Roses
2. Fire’s Highway
3. Evil’s Sway
4. For The Love Of Ivy
5. Adrenaline Nightshift
6. Younger Us
7. The House That Heaven Built
8. Continuous Thunder

RELATED:
Japandroids: Heavenward Grand Prix
Japandroids: Younger Us
Japandroids on KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic
Japandroids: Art Czars

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The Morning Benders change name, release mixtape of new music as POP ETC

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The Morning Benders’ 2010 album Big Echo was (and still is) incredibly popular in this household – a great example of my wife picking up on an album and not so subtly playing it over and over again until I finally wise up.

Turns out, Big Echo will be the last piece of work under The Morning Benders name. The band announced Sunday it was changing its name, and with good reason (via Buzzbands.la). As explained on its former website, the band learned the hard way that “bender” is a slang/derogatory term used to disparage homosexuals in the UK.

An excerpt from the band’s statement:

“1. We simply cannot go on using a name that is demeaning to the gay community. The reason we are making music is to reach and unite as many different kinds of people as possible, and the idea that our name may be hateful towards anyone makes us sick.

2. In the UK and many parts of Europe the name has simply become too distracting. The MUSIC has always been our number one focus, and we want to present that to people in as pure a way as possible.”

So the band has changed its name to POP ETC, marking the occasion by releasing a mixtape of 11 new (synthy) tracks under the new handle. Stream it below via Soundcloud or download it at the new website.

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Sam Means: I Will (Beatles cover)

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It’s kind of embarrassing to admit that, after listening to Sam Means’ cover of “I Will” – recorded straight to his cell phone – my greatest accomplishment on the iPhone for the day was playing another game of Words With Friends.

This is the first song of what Means (formerly of the Format) is calling a “potential series,” cleverly titled Live From My Cell Phone. “Partly because the songs are recorded straight into the FourTrack Recorder app on my iPhone 4S, but mostly as a cheap attempt to hide the fact they kind of sound like crap.” Come on: “Crap” is a little harsh. Let’s go with “lo-fi.” But seriously, this is a great idea, another way technology closes the gap a little more between artist and fan.

Means, who designed the album art for Source Victoria’s Slow Luck and played piano on the song “I Know You Well,” is teaming up with Photo Finish Records to release a 7-inch, titled Nona, on Record Store Day. So be on the lookout for that.

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Caveman: Old Friend

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My attention span ain’t what it used to be. Music, in all its many ways to be consumed, has become too disposable. My friend Casey wrote a great post about how Spotify, Rdio and the like are slowly pushing MP3 blogs to their deaths, or at least forcing the owners of said blogs to consider the evolution (point taken).

Still, I’ve only half-heartedly accepted streaming music as a way of life (the music may always be accessible, but my cell phone service won’t necessarily be). And so I’m wandering aimlessly – from MP3s to streaming, from my computer to my phone (and sometimes even still on my iPod … how quaint!). Most of the time I can’t remember what I actually own and what I’ve only streamed. It’s always too easy to find that next song.

And so these days it says something about an album when I can return to it and continue to find new ways to enjoy it, months after the initial listen. That’s been the case with Caveman’s CoCo Beware, given a wider release by Fat Possum this year after a self-release on the band’s Magic Man! label in the fall.

There’s an alluring sense of calm to the 10-track album, all dreamy and deliberate with swirling guitars and harmonies. At some points it reminds me of the Dodos in their less spastic moments.

After a string of SXSW dates, Caveman is pretty much on the road through the first week of May, including a stop at Club Congress in Tucson on April 28. To celebrate, the Brooklyn-based band unleashed an MP3 of the song “Old Friend” that you can download below or, you know, stream somewhere.

I’d also highly suggest giving a listen to “Thankful,” my favorite song from the album. I really fell for the imagery here: “You drove your car in the sea / looking for something to believe”:

 

 

hip-hop

New Cadence Weapon: 88 (prod. by Grimes)

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We last heard from Cadence Weapon (aka Rollie Pemberton, aka Edmonton’s poet laureate) in 2010, when he released the Tron Legacy mixtape, but we finally have news of proper follow-up to 2008’s Afterparty Babies.

Hope in Dirty City is due for release this spring, described by the obligatory PR material as “a unique hybrid of psychedelic soul, old school rap, IDM and mutant disco.” I’d expect nothing less from the man whose song (“Oliver Square”) has been my ringtone for, like, the past five years (I flinch and reach for my pocket every time I hear the opening bars).

The first new track we’re hearing, “88,” is an ode to the old school, produced by Montreal’s Grimes (even if Blueprint had a similar concept in ’05). This mere 1 minute and 52 seconds has me really psyched for the new album: “I’m a professional, kid / make ya feel infinitesimal / when I get ready to spit my confessional / like a congressional bid.”

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Miniature Tigers: mural time lapse video

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I have yet to be able to sit down with Mia Pharaoh, the new album from Miniature Tigers, who are in town tonight at Crescent Ballroom headlining the Modern Art Tour.

The show’s promoter, Psyko Steve, commissioned Tucson artist Joe Pagac to paint a mural on downtown arts venue Eye Lounge at First Friday. It was a collaboration with Tigers frontman Charlie Brand to help promote the album and show.

Check the time lapse video of its creation above, set to the new Miniature Tigers song “Afternoons with David Hockney.”

RELATED:
New Miniature Tigers: Female Doctor (plus album release date, tracklisting)
Miniature Tigers: Dark Tower on Yours Tru.ly

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Serengeti as Kenny Dennis: Shazam (video)

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Kobe Bryant might be able to tell you how Shaquille O’Neal’s ass tastes, but not Kenny Dennis, the alter ego of Serengeti and lover of all things Chicago (Bears, Hawks, Sox, Bulls).

Shaq Diesel crossed the line by dissing Dennis’ mustache at a Jive Records showcase in 1993, when Dennis (aka Kdz) was a member of Tha Grimm Teachaz and the Big Aristotle was moonlighting as a rap star. Fueled by O’Douls, Dennis had to reply. As Serengeti told me last month after we talked sports: “Kdz, as he was know then as, immediately came home and recorded ‘Shazam.'”

Almost 20 years later, and we have a visual accompaniment that includes Dennis dribbling Photoshopped Shaq heads. This is incredible.

The song is part of the Kenny Dennis EP that is coming out on Anticon on April 3. Not long before that, on March 20, Serengeti will release the Beak & Claw EP, a collaboration with Son Lux and Sufjan Stevens they are calling s / s / s. Pitchfork has the scoop.